Panah Panahi (Persian: پناه پناهی; born 1984) is an Iranian film director. His debut film, Hit the Road, premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, and was named Best Film at the 2021 BFI London Film Festival.
Personal life
editPanahi was born in Tehran, Iran, to Jafar Panahi, a film director associated with the Iranian New Wave movement, and Tahereh Saidi, a nurse. He has a younger sister, Solnaz.[1][2] Panahi studied at the University of Tehran.[3] As of 2022, he continues to reside in Tehran.[4][2]
Career
editGrowing up, Panahai worked as an assistant on several times directed by his father, and also observed his father's collaborators, including Abbas Kiarostami.[1] In 2009, while still a student at the University of Tehran, Panahi's short film The First Film was screened at the Montreal World Film Festival in Montreal, Canada.[3]
Panahi edited his father's film 3 Faces, which competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.[1][4][5]
Panahi's directorial debut, Hit the Road, was filmed in 2019 and follows a family travelling to a border in north-western Iran in order to smuggle their eldest son out of the country. Panahi stated his emotional inspiration for the film was the last day he spent with his sister Solnaz before she left Iran due to threats being made against her. Panahi provided a false script to Iranian authorities in order to make the film within the country.[2] Hit the Road premiered during Director's Fortnight at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and subsequently was screened at other European film festivals including the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic and the BFI London Film Festival in the United Kingdom.[6] At the latter, it was given the Best Film award, with competition president Małgorzata Szumowska describing it as "a film that made us laugh and cry and feel alive".[7][8]
References
edit- ^ a b c Kermode, Mark (31 July 2022). "Hit the Road review – all of Iranian life on four wheels". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 31 July 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ a b c Hoad, Phil (21 July 2022). "'You cannot imagine how crazy the system is': Jafar Panahi's film-maker son on Iranian censorship". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 11 August 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ a b Keough, Peter (28 September 2009). "Jafar Panahi interview, part two". The Boston Phoenix. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ a b Aguilar, Carlos (22 April 2022). "For Panah Panahi, Being the Son of an Iranian Auteur Wasn't Entirely Helpful". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 4 July 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ Panahi, Jafar (2019-03-08), Se rokh (Drama), Behnaz Jafari, Jafar Panahi, Marziyeh Rezaei, Jafar Panahi Film Productions, Kino Lorber, retrieved 2024-04-13
- ^ Azizi, Mustafa. "بزن به جاده خاکی، فیلمی از پناه پناهی" [Hit the Road, a film from Panah Panahi]. Journal Hafteh (in Persian). Archived from the original on 22 April 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ "جاده خاکی برنده جایزه بهترین فیلم جشنواره فیلم لندن شد" [Hit the Road won the best film award at the London Film Festival]. Honarnameh. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ Khomami, Nadia (17 October 2021). "Iranian family road trip movie wins top prize at London film festival". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2024.